Contents

About the course

We take a blended approach to training which we feel gives you a programme that can be bespoke to your needs. All trainees will follow both a Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and PGCE programme, meaning that, upon completion, our trainees will attain QTS, PGCE and 60 Master’s credits.

The QTS programme consists of a variety of elements, based around your time in schools, including two school placements in your chosen phase. These placements will give you experience in diverse settings. Each school provides a mentor, who will be a subject/phase specialist, to support your progress and development, plus an ITT coordinator who provides further support.

During placement, your requirement to plan and teach lessons will gradually increase over the year at a pace that best supports your development and circumstances. You will also undertake a two-week placement in a special school setting and carry out a cross-phase placement. This ensures that you will complete your training having experienced a range of students, settings and age ranges. You will develop a comprehensive understanding of where students have come from and where they may go during their journey through education.

Whilst our course involves an extended period of time in schools, we also believe that understanding teaching pedagogy is crucial to success. Within the QTS qualification, we provide weekly pedagogical training which builds a firm foundation of understanding upon which practical skills of teaching can be built. These sessions also provide an invaluable pastoral and networking opportunity for trainees.

Subject knowledge support is also provided through group and individual experiences and is facilitated by subject experts. It will identify areas of need that a trainee has and provide opportunities to develop these. This is hugely important given the ever changing educational landscape.

The PGCE programme is undertaken in partnership with the University of Nottingham. This is a particularly exciting partnership as it means that our trainees do not have to rely on distance learning opportunities. During the year there are a number of face-to-face days at the University, the themes of which are carefully selected so that they dovetail with the school based training that you receive on the QTS programme. In order to support your work-life balance, we build in additional study days that enable you to work on the three written assignments and one presentation task that you will undertake to complete your PGCE.

Interview process

At the heart of our recruitment processes is you, the applicant. We will try to support you and work with you to make the process manageable. Once your application arrives it is assessed by our recruitment team that consists of representatives from our partner schools and us. We will assess your application against our entry requirements and, if successful, will invite you to interview. You will only be required to attend one interview as both ourselves and our partnership will be in attendance. During the interview day you will have the opportunity to talk to course leaders, talk to a range of students and to deliver a session to a small group of students. These activities are designed to allow you to demonstrate your potential to be a good teacher. We are fully cognisant of the fact that you are not yet a qualified teacher. You will also undertake a subject knowledge task that, whilst giving us an opportunity to assess your subject knowledge, also allows us to ascertain any areas of support you may need moving forward. The day ends with a formal interview. Following the interview day, we would aim to give you a decision within 24 hours as we understand how stressful this process can be. If successful in gaining an offer, which you subsequently accept, we will work with you in ensuring that you can access support that might be relevant to you such as Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses.

How school placements work

A huge benefit of following our school based training is that you gain an appreciation of how a school year works. You will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in a school and as such you will be expected to follow the school day of your placement school. Past trainees have told us that this immersion prepared them fully for their transition into their first teaching job. Our trainees will spend most of the training year in a main placement school. This main placement begins in September at the start of the school year and continues until Christmas. In January you will undertake a Second placement which will give you access to a different school setting. This placement lasts for 7 weeks. At the end of the Second placement you will return to your Main placement school where you will remain until the end of the training year. During these placements you will have access to key support mentors within school who will support your development on a day to day basis within the classroom. You will also have a school co-ordinator who will ensure that you have support in gaining insight into the wider school and the systems within it. Across these two placements we will ensure that you gain experience of teaching across the full age range within which you are training. One of our highly experienced tutors will also visit you a minimum of 6 times during the year to support and assess your progress.

Your time in school is Monday to Thursday. On Friday you will come together as a group to do Pedagogical training. This gives you a regular chance to network as well as reflect upon your teaching and how it is developing. These sessions are facilitated by a range of expert practitioners from within, and outside of our partnership.

Beyond your two school based placements we offer a range of enhanced placements. Each trainee will undertake a two week SEND placement as well as cross phase placements that will give you insights in the phases immediately before and after your training phase.

Financial support

Requirements

Qualifications

GCSE English grade C or above

GCSE Mathematics grade C or above

Relevant Degree

About the training provider

The East Midlands Teacher Training Partnership is a School Centred Initial Teacher Training provider (SCITT) which has a large, committed partnership of schools in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. In order to provide the very best experience for our trainee teachers, we offer the opportunity to gain QTS and PGCE with 60 Master’s credits. The PGCE element is delivered in partnership with the University of Nottingham. This, we believe, ensures that our trainees have access to fantastic opportunities beyond the classroom that complement the school based training.

We have an individualised approach to training. We take into consideration past experience and areas of needs and, where necessary, put in bespoke solutions to support. We view your training year as the beginning of a fulfilling career, and as such, work with you to make your transition into teaching a positive, rewarding experience.

Amongst the many strengths highlighted in our most recent Ofsted report were the excellent levels of pastoral care afforded to trainees, the shared, committed partnership ethos across all stakeholders, the quality of training and the responsiveness of course leaders to feedback received. All of these are crucial in supporting trainees to have a successful and enjoyable year of training. All of our trainees in 2017/18 reported that they felt that their training had prepared them very well for their first teaching position.

Our trainees have a good record of securing employment within our partner schools. This potential for continuity, trainees tell us, provides a real incentive to train with us.

Training with disabilities and other needs

In line with the Equality act 2010, we ensure equal treatment of all applicants to our courses. We will give equal treatment in access to our courses regardless of the identified protected characteristics.

Therefore, we welcome applications from all prospective teachers who are suitably qualified and demonstrate the potential and motivation to teach.

In order to support trainees with disabilities and other needs we ask all trainees to undergo an occupational health assessment. This will identify any additional support or adjustments that we can make to ensure that you have access to the best possible training. Our partner schools themselves will work with you to ensure that you have access to the experiences that you need to allow you to be successful in your training.

We also have key staff within the partnership, such as SENCo’s and Inclusion Leaders who will work with training staff to ensure that we are putting in place the necessary support for all trainees. As a partnership we are committed to supporting all of our trainees to make their training year as enjoyable and successful as possible. The young people within our schools gain so many positives from being taught by teachers from a range of backgrounds. Through our training model, we have regular opportunities for all trainees to network. We know, from feedback, that this is seen, by trainees, as extremely valuable and supportive.

Support and advice

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